Knitting machine and method



L, N. FEINSTEIN 2,409,026

KNITTING MACHINE AND METHOD Filed Feb. 5, 1945 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 mmvrozc Lo'uas N. FEJNSTEJN ATTORNEY 3, 1946. L. N. FEINSTEIN 2,409,026

KNITTING MACHINE AND METHOD Filed Feb. 3, 1945 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 FIG. 5

Needle 4 Needle 3 Needle 2 Needle 1 INVENTOR. LOUIS N. Femsleln Attorney Patented Oct. 8, 1946 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE KNITTING MACHINE AND METHOD Louis N. Feinstein, Brooklyn, N. Y., assignor to Sam Feinstein, Rebecca Feinstein, and Louis Feinstein, doing business as Feinstein Knitting Mills, Inc., New York, N. Y.

Application February 3, 1945, Serial No. 575,954

3 Claims. (01. 6.6-86) This invention relates to a method of manufacturing a knitted fabric,

Particularly, it is an object of my invention to arrange the links of a pattern chain in such a manner so that the machine will automatically knit a diamond-shaped pattern.

More particularly, I have provided an arrangement of links for the pattern chain which operates the guide bar to cause the guide bar to make two separate stitches on the first working needle and alternatively on the adjacent working needle and then repeat the operation on the first and adjacent working needles continually and automatically, then causing another guide bar to make one stitch on the first working needle and lying in on the second stitch oi the first working needle then producing one stitch on the adjacent working needle and lying in the yarn on the second stitch of the second Working needle, the chain then causing the operation to be repeated on the first and second working needles continually and automatically, the guide bars being caused to operate simultaneously, interlocking the yarns in order to form a diamond pattern knitted fabric.

For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of my invention, reference is had to the following detailed description in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig, 1 is an end elevation of a single needle barred knitting machine.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the greatest part of the aforesaid knitting machine in connection with a schematic diagram of the guide bar operating mechanism.

Fig. 3 is an elevation of a group of links of a pattern chain which controls one bar of the mechanism, the said chain being enlarged in proportion to the diagram of the machine, however, the links are pictured smaller than the links of the actual chain;

Fig. 4 is an elevation of another group of links in a pattern chain which work in connection with the pattern chain shown in Fig. 3, to produce the pattern of a knitted fabric.

Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the relative position of the threads with relation to the needles of the knitting machine.

The main portions of the knitting machine used for the purposes of illustrating my invention are shown in Figs. 1 and 2. There is one straight bank latch, needles 5!) which are mounted on a needle bar 5| in a manner Well-known in the art. The needle bar is adapted to slide up and down in a needle bed 52 which is rigidly fastened to the main frame '53 of the machine in such a position that the needles 58 in the bank slide up and down, but leave sufficient space to permit the fabric to cast oil. The needle bar 5| is raised and lowered in the usual manner by the needle cams 54-54 which may either be single or double action cams. Cam-s 54 act through cam arms 55 which are pivoted at 55 and restricted lifter rods 5'! on which the needle bar 5| is mounted, the needle cams '54 are on the main shaft 58.

I have illustrated a machine showing two guide bars, one guide bar being numbered 59, and the opposed guide bar being numbered Bil, however, I do not desire to confine myself to the use of only two guide bars, since the machine can readily be adapted to use any number of guide bars. The guide bars control the yarn for knitting the fabric. The pattern chains illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4 control the movements of guide bars 59 and 60. Guide bar 59 is controlled by a pattern chain illustrated in Fig. 3, while guide bar 86 is controlled by the pattern chain illustrated in Fig, i. The yarns 5| are fed to the needles through the guides 62 of the guide bar 59, while the yarns 5i to are fed to the needles through the guides $2 and 53 respectively of the guide bars 59 and 50 respectively; the yarns GI and 64 of which pass between the needles as the guide bars are rocked back and forth. While the guides 62 and 63 are operated independently, guides 62 and 63 are hung on a cradle 54 and passed back and forth between the needles in parallel relationship as a single unit. The guide bars 59 and B0 are suspended by two or more hangers 65 through whose lower end a horizontal pin 65, located at the top of the guide bar, slides freely, thus enabling the guide bar to slide longitudinally through the cradle. The suspension is made firm by the brackets Bl which are fastened on the ends of the guide bar and are slideably suspended on the cradle by the rods 68. The cradle 64 is locked by a slotted arm 69 on one end of the cradle and a vertical connection rod is which is adiusta'bly fastened to the outer end of the slotted arm. The lower end of connecting rod 10 is forked and straddles the main shaft 58. Mounted on the connecting rod iii is a roller H lying in a grooved cam 12 on the main shaft 58. As the cam 12 revolves, the connecting rod 10 is raised and lowered and the cradle 64 is rocked back and forth, the movement being so timed with relation to the needle bar '5! descends just after the individual thread guides pass between the needles to the same side of the machine as the needle bar 5|. The yarns 6| are fed to guide bar 59 from warped beam 13 which is mounted on a frame 14. Yarns 64 are fed to guide bar 60 from warped beam 15 which is mounted on the frame 14.

In the method of knitting my fabrics, the loops are formed by the guide bars which lap the yarns around the needles, such lapping being done by combinations of. the rocking movement hereinbefore described, and the traverse movement controlled by the pattern chains illustrated in Figs 3 and 4. In place of the pattern chains illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4, it should be understood that the same movements which are created by the pattern chains shown in Figs. 3 and 4 can be duplicated by the use of cut wheels, the edges of which are cut at varying distances from th center to create the different heights. This is an equivalent for the links of the chains illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4 which are also of varying height.

In Figs. 3 and 4, I have illustrated the two pattern chains consisting of links of different height to control the pattern in my method of knitting diamond-shaped knitted fabric. The links of the chains are designated by numbers which appear in the center of the links and designate the relative height of the links. To form the knitted fabric, it is necessary to set up the chains with such links also known as pattern wheels according to certain formulas. One formula for the production of my knitted fabric is represented in Figs. 3 and 4 as follows: (Fig. 3) chain 0, 2, 0, 2, 4, 2, 4, 2; (Fig. 4) chain 20, 2, 0, 0, 4, 2, 4, 4.

The chains illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4 are placed around drum "5, and these chains automatically create the knitted fabric of the diamond shaped pattern of my creation. This knitted cloth is knitted with two threads, the first thread being indicated by chain one shown in Fig. 3 of the above formula, while the second thread is indicated by chain two shown in Fig. 4 of the above formula.

It should be understood, of course, that in placing the pattern chains shown in Figs. 3 and 4, that placing chain two to the left of the drum or reversing the position of the chains will not alter the character of the fabric knitted.

In my method of knitting my typ of fabric, the end product is characterized by a series of threads formed into a series of knitted loops by the action of the links of the chains illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4, the heights of the links causing each series of loops having loops extending alternately at opposite sides and interlaced with the threads of parallel series of -loops on both sides with the second thread being knitted and unknitted and interlaced with the loops of each if series of knitted loops.

In Fig. 5, I have illustrated diagrammatically the relative position of the threads with relation to the needles on the machine which are controlled by the heights of th links of the chains of Figs. 3 and 4.

Referring to Fig. 5 in the manufacture of my knitted fabric, thread 80 makes two successive stitches on needle one, (which is controlled by the 0, 4 links 0, 2, 0, 2 shown in Fig. 3), and then thread 80 passes to needle 2 making two successive stitches on needle two (which is controlled by the links 5 to 8 inclusive-4, 2, 4, 2shown in Fig. 3), and then thread 80 returns to needle one repeating the same operation, that is, the remaining eight links repeat the operation as just described. I

Thread 8| follows thread 80 making one stitch on needle one and whil thread makes stitch 2 on needle one, thread 8| lays in through the stitch made on needle one by thread 80, (the stitch on needle one is controlled by the first two links 0, 2 of Fig. 4, while the lay in stitch is controlled by the third and fourth links 0 of the Fig. 4), and then thread 8| passes to needle two making'a stitch on needle two, and while thread 80 makes the second stitch on needle two; thread 8| lays in through the stitch made on needle two by thread 80, (the second stitch being controlled by the fifth and sixth links-4, 2 of Fig. 4, and the lay in stitch being controlled by the seventh and eighth links 4, 4 of Fig. 4).

The fabric heretofore described and the relative heights of the links to create this fabric can be made by reversing th direction of the threads, that is, threads that loop around the needles from right to left can be looped around the needles from left to right so that in the final appearance and end result the knitted fabric made by this method will look exactly the same.

It should be distinctly understood that one skilled in the art can readily rearrange the links of the chains shown in Figs. 3 and 4 in order to create the same type of diamond-shaped knitted fabric, however, that does not depart from the general spirit of the invention since the heights of the links control the direction of the turn around the needle, that is, whether or not the turn is made from right to left or left to right does not chan e the character of the fabric.

It is therefore understood that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the broad aspects of my invention.

I claim:

1. A warp knitting machine to produce a knitted fabric of diamond shaped pattern, said machine comprising two guide bars having uniformly spaced guides, a. needle bar having uniformly spaced needles, each guide of said guide bars being adapted to have a yarn threaded therethrough, a pattern drum having two series of links thereon, the first series of links comprising the following pattern: 0, 2, 0, 2, 4, 2, 4, 2 to control the first guide bar, and the second series of links comprising the following pattern: 0, 2, 0, O, 4, 2, 4, 4 to control the second guide bar.

2. A warp knitting machine to produce a knitted fabric of diamond shaped pattern, said machine comprising two guide bars having uniformly spaced guides, a needle bar having uniformly spaced needles, each guide of said guid bars being adapted to have a yarn threaded therethrough, a pattern drum having two series of links thereon, the first series of links comprising the following pattern; 0, 2, 0, 2, 4, 2, 4, 2 to control the first guide bar; the second series of links comprising the following pattern; 0, 2, 0, 0, 4, 2, 4, 4 to control the second guide bar, said guide bars and needle bar controlled by cams creating uniform movement relative to each other.

3. A method of producing a knitted fabric having diamond shaped openings on a warp knitting machine having two guide bars having uniformly spaced yarn guides, each guide having a yam threaded therethrough, and a needle bar having uniforml spaced needles, the method comprising repeatedly moving the guide bars according to the following pattern; 0, 2,0, 2, 4, 2, 4, 2 for the first guide bar and 0, 2, 0, 0, 4, 2, 4, 4 for the second guide bar.

LOUIS N. FEINSTEIN. 

